Facelifted Mahindra Scorpio caught testing, coming early-2014

Nobody likes Monday mornings. More so during winter. If you work with a car manufacturer, though, you need to be out testing the new set of wheels no matter what day of the week it is. On one such chilly Monday morning (i.e today), we managed to snap the facelifted Mahindra Scorpio on its test run on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. And we have quite a bit of information about Mahindra's refreshed quintessential SUV-for-the-masses.

It's not hard to take one look at the mildly-camouflaged pre-production example to figure out that the re-design will be more evolutionary than revolutionary, with a new seat of headlamps (projectors available as an option), a new big-toothed grille, a redesigned front bumper and a re-positioned air scoop on the bonnet. The face of the car will be more in line with the more expensive XUV500, and that's fine, as long as they do not slap on one faux mesh grille too many.

The side profile remains largely unchanged, the roof rails are the same as the ones seen on the current car, but the alloys are new units. The rear of the car too should be similar to the current Scorpio. The focus will be on making the car look more upmarket, while retaining the butch persona that Scorpio fans so dearly love.

While we couldn't get a half-decent picture of the interior, what we could see was a newly-designed centre console with new AC vents, a new steering wheel and bits from the XUV's cabin. Again, apart from the freshening-up in terms of design, the aim will be to introduce higher-quality materials inside, with additional features being borrowed from the XUV.

When it comes to the engine, it would seem pointless on the surface for Mahindra to change anything about the 2.2-litre, 120bhp mHawk diesel that does duty in the current Scorp, but the camo'ed Scorpio was being flogged across the expressway, consistently maintaining speeds of over 150kph (and looking very stable at that speed). Which would only suggest that Mahindra may have plonked the XUV's higher-strung 140bhp, 330Nm motor into the Scorpio's engine bay.

Which would be more good news in turn, for more power would mean Mahindra having sorted out the car's chassis and suspension, which weren't exactly what you'd call 'reassuring' at high speeds.

The car that we spotted didn't look too far from being the finished article, and we wouldn't be too surprised to see the car being unveiled at the Delhi Motor Show in February. And since it's a refresh, it shouldn't even cost all that much more than the one on sale right now.

What would you like to see on the improved Scorpio, dotcommers? Chip in with your comments, Mahindra could be reading...